Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, and
Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was followed by
Nawaz Sharif, and over the next decade the two leaders fought for power, alternating in office while the country's situation worsened; economic indicators fell sharply, in contrast to the 1980s. This period is marked by political instability, misgovernance and corruption.
[59][60] In May 1998, while Sharif was Prime Minister, India
tested five nuclear weapons and tension with India heightened to an extreme: Pakistan detonated six nuclear weapons of its own in the
Chagai-I and
Chagai-II tests later in the same month. Military tension between the two countries in the
Kargil district led to the
Kargil War of 1999, after which General
Pervez Musharraf took over through a
bloodless coup d'état and assumed vast executive powers.
[61][62]
Musharraf ruled Pakistan as head of state from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008, a period of extensive economic reform
[63] and Pakistan's involvement in the US-led
war on terrorism. On 15 November 2007, Pakistan's National Assembly became the first to complete its full five-year term, and new elections were called.
[64] After the
assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, her
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the largest number of seats in the
2008 elections, and party member
Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister.
[65] Musharraf resigned from the presidency on 18 August 2008 when threatened with
impeachment, and was succeeded by
Asif Ali Zardari, the current President.
[66][67][68]Gillani was disqualified from membership of parliament and as prime minister by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in June 2012.
[69] By its own estimates, Pakistan's involvement in the war on terrorism has cost up to $67.93 billion,
[70][71] thousands of casualties and nearly 3 million displaced civilians.
[72] The
Pakistani general election of 2013 saw the
Pakistan Muslim League (N)achieve a majority, following which
Nawaz Sharif became elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, returning to the post for the third time after fourteen years, in a democratic transition.
[73]
The
bicameral legislature comprises a 100-member
Senate and a 342-member
National Assembly. Members of the National Assembly are elected through the
first-past-the-post system under
universal adult suffrage, representing electoral districts known as National Assembly constituencies. According to the constitution, the 70 seats reserved for women and religious minorities are allocated to the political parties according to their proportional representation. The
president who is elected by
an electoral college is the ceremonial head of the state and is the civilian commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces (with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee as its principal military adviser), but military appointments and key confirmations in the armed forces are made by the prime minister after reviewing the reports on their merit and performances. Almost all appointed officers in the judicial branches, military chiefs, chairman and branches, and legislatures require the executive confirmation from the prime minister, whom the President must consult, by law. However, the powers to pardon and grant clemency vest with the President of Pakistan.
The
prime minister is usually the leader of the largest party or a coalition in the National Assembly. He serves as the
head of government and is designated to exercise as the country's chief executive. The premier is responsible for appointing a cabinet consisting of ministers and advisors as well as running the government operations, taking and authorising executive decisions, appointments and recommendations that require executive confirmation of the Prime Minister. Each of the four province has a similar system of government, with a directly elected Provincial Assembly in which the leader of the largest party or coalition is elected Chief Minister. Chief Ministers oversees the provincial government and head the provincial cabinet, it is common in Pakistan to have different ruling parties or coalitions in the provinces. The provincial assemblies have power to make laws and approve provincial budget which is commonly presented by the provincial finance minister every fiscal year.
Provincial governors who play role as the ceremonial head of province are appointed by the President.
[74]
Foreign relations of Pakistan
Pakistan is the second largest
Muslim country (after
Indonesia), and its status as a declared
nuclear power, being the only Islamic nation to have that status, plays a part in its international role. Pakistan has a fierce independent foreign policy, especially when it comes to issues such as development of
nuclear weapons, construction of
nuclear reactors, foreign
military purchases and other issues that are vital to its national interests. Pakistan has a strategic geo-political location at the corridor of world major maritime oil supply lines, and has close proximity to the resource and oil rich central Asian countries. Pakistan is an important member of the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is ranked by the
US as a major non-NATO ally in the war against
terrorism, and has a highly disciplined military, which is the world's eighth-largest standing military force.
Pakistan maintains good relations with all Arab and most other Muslim countries. Since the
Sino-Indian War of 1962, Pakistan's closest strategic, military and economic ally has been China. The relationship has survived changes of governments and variations in the regional and global situation. Chinese cooperation with Pakistan has reached economic high points, with substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan's infrastructural expansion including the Pakistani deep-water port at
Gwadar. Both countries have an ongoing
free trade agreement. Pakistan has served as China's main bridge between Muslim countries. Pakistan also played an important role in bridging the communication gap between China and the West by facilitating the
1972 Nixon visit to China.
[86][87][88]
Pakistan and India continue to be rivals. The
Kashmir conflict remains the major point of rift; three of
their four wars were over this territory.
[89]Pakistan has had mixed relations with the United States. As an anti-Soviet power in the 1950s and during
Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, Pakistan was one of the closest allies of the US,
[76][90] but relations soured in the 1990s when the US imposed sanctions because of Pakistan's possession and testing of nuclear weapons.
[91] The US
war on terrorism led initially to an improvement in the relationship, but it was strained by a divergence of interests and resulting mistrust during the
war in Afghanistan and by issues related to terrorism.
[92][93][94][95] Since 1948, there has been an ongoing, and at times fluctuating,
violent conflict in the southwestern province of
Balochistan between various Baloch separatist groups, who seek greater political autonomy, and the central government of Pakistan.
[96]
Administrative divisions
Local government follows a three-tier system of districts,
tehsils and
union councils, with an elected body at each tier.
[98] There are about 130 districts altogether, of which Azad Kashmir has ten
[99] and Gilgit–Baltistan seven.
[100] The Tribal Areas comprise seven tribal agencies and six small frontier regions detached from neighbouring districts.
[101]